I accomplished my goal of writing 10 blog posts in 2020, but here I am in August of 2021 writing my second one of the year…whoops. I blame burn out from online classes and the mentality I’ve adopted of “I will not sit at a computer unless I absolutely have to.” Anyway, its nice to be back.
No one prepares you for college summers. Rather than relaxing, it becomes a time to land an impressive internship or work as much as possible before the next school year starts. Additionally, everyone is spread out – your college friends usually in their hometowns and your hometown friends in their college towns. It’s an odd time.
This feels like my first true college summer, since last year I had been home since March and there was little distinction between when school stopped and summer started. I interned for my Dad which was a great experience going to the office but also having flexibility to go on vacation – which I felt like I needed after a year of going absolutely nowhere. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Charbie graduated high school and is heading off to college wayyy too soon, we found out Steph and Brennan are having a baby girl (Anna and I were in charge of the gender reveal), and the dogs came with us to work everyday.
We visited the Shenandoah for Tessa’s grad party which was so fun. Leah and Kenny got married!! And I got to visit Hannah is Charlottesville.
Caroline came to visit for a weekend and we went to Arlington to watch the DC fireworks on the 4th of July.
I visited Kreech and Travis’ new home in Richmond for a day. We hadn’t seen each other in forever and it was so fun to catch up and run around the city.
For the first time in our 16 year friendship, we went to Ocean City with the Osterhoudts! It was fun showing them around our childhood vacation spot and getting to be on the beach for a few days.
I visited Richmond again to see Danielle’s home for the summer. Caroline came too and we had a ton of fun shopping, meeting Danielle’s fellow church interns and just hanging. We ate dinner at a tiny little Greek place that was SO GOOD.
We went to New Hampshire for the first family vacation in 2 years!! It was nice to just get on a plane and go somewhere. My favorite part of the trip was hiking along the river on the first day.
We had a Farmelo family reunion at the Wharf in DC and while every cousin couldn’t make it, it was still fun to see everyone. The first night, all the cousins played spicy UNO which got pretty competitive and hilarious. We also went to a Nats game and the Museum of the Bible.
Of course, I can’t forget the horses of the summer. I rode a different horse in almost every lesson which kept things interesting. When I rode by myself, I rode Titan – the big Palomino horse. I also rode Rocket (the My Little Pony lookin’ horse) a couple times which was a lot of fun. He’s a mini Gypsy Vanner and truly my seven year old self’s dream pony. I learned a lot, grew as a rider, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to do what I love.
Honorable mentions of the summer include:
- Passing a 6 week, intense summer finance class that I wanted to get out of the way before this upcoming semester.
- Hanging out with the pets. They are high maintenance but so fun. Watching Sadie grow has been especially sweet and of course spending time with my Lily girl is the best. If she didn’t have such a happy life here I’d take her to college with me.
- Hanging out with the Osterhoudts (or as we say, Osterfarms – our combined name). Its a rare time when the 5 of us are home so this summer has been a blessing.
- My internship! While I technically worked for my dad I mostly work with/under the company accountant and office administrator. Both were amazing, patient teachers and I learned a range of company functions — all while taking the dogs to work!
Overall, it was a great summer! Now back to Blacksburg 🙂
Gracie Girl Blog 
Leave a comment